When we lived in the U.S. one of the funniest sayings I came across was “Gone fishing”. During the time I lived in Georgia lots of stores had the “Gone fishing” sign at their doors when they were closed. It took a while before it dawned on me this wasn’t meant literally …

Since this article is from a Dutch paper , I will explain a little about this man Viktor.

Viktor (57) was skipper. Until ten years ago. When he decided to radically change his life – he became a hermit. Since then he lives in a remote forest, 55 kilometers south of the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk, the third largest city in Siberia. He spends his time reading the Bible and finding food: fish, mushrooms, berries and more. He does not want to give his last name. Photographer Ilya Naymushin Reuters laid his life down.

“Gone fishing”is an English idiom that is used in reference to someone who is completely unaware of all that is going on in his or her immediate surroundings. The person described in this manner has checked out from reality and may be daydreaming of just simply ignorant of the people and things in the vicinity. In other cases, the term can be used to describe someone who has taken an opportunity to get away from the rigors of daily life. This expression first found footing in America in the 20th century and is taken from the signs commonly placed on local store windows indicating that the shopkeepers weren’t around to do business.

I was trying to find another idiomatic expression–love how they translate into other languages and the looks I sometimes get when someone doesn’t ‘get it’. Even the expressions from one region of Germany differs from another.